The long-awaited report that left out the key detail patients were promised

Psychiatrists and mental health advocates have accused the Minns government of hiding the true extent of staff and resource shortages affecting vulnerable patients in a long-delayed report that fails to identify the worst-affected areas.

The state government quietly published its mental health gap analysis report on the NSW Health website on Friday afternoon, which they had promised would show which of the state’s Local Health Districts (LHDs) were underresourced so funding could be allocated appropriately.

The report de-identified the LHDs and did not report their levels of unmet demand. They were instead benchmarked against the state average, rather than a target gold standard.

“It’s basically created to make NSW look good,” University of Queensland professor of psychiatry Steve Kisely said. “I very much doubt it looks like that on the ground.”

He said there would always be places above and below average. “What people want to know is: is the system working for them? Not whether the system is working as poorly as somewhere else.”

The report said LHDs were de-identified “to ensure there is no perception that any area provides poor services compared to others”, and to enable publication without further Commonwealth approvals.

BEING Mental Health Consumers chief executive Giancarlo de Vera said the report had not provided sufficient clarity on community need.

“We know there are massive gaps,” de Vera said. “We need to know where they are, who’s affected and how much it will cost to fix, so the problem doesn’t get bigger.

“District-level data should be published transparently and regularly for every region in Australia so we can find local solutions to local problems.”

The report was published ahead of this Friday’s health ministers’ meeting between state and federal leaders, and a month before NDIS changes come into effect on October 1, when services such as psychosocial supports are expected to be cut or reduced for many people without state-based alternatives in place.

It showed NSW had the second-highest level of unmet demand for psychosocial support among all states and territories. Psychosocial supports help people with mental health challenges function in society and address areas such as housing, employment and social supports.

For Amber Curry, who lives with schizophrenia, accessing public support has been coloured by understaffing and a lack of resourcing in North Sydney, with private clinics ill equipped to deal with her severe symptoms.

The Castle Cove resident estimated she has seen at least 20 public psychiatrists in the past five years.

“There’s such a lack of continuity of care, Amber’s constantly having to repeat her symptoms and relive her story,” her mother, Sharon Grocott, said.